


Fresh Air

by Melime



Category: Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-31
Updated: 2015-10-31
Packaged: 2018-04-29 06:07:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 628
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5118137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Melime/pseuds/Melime
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Their first kiss was like that first breath of fresh air.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fresh Air

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Alfer](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alfer/gifts).
  * Translation into Português brasileiro available: [Ar Fresco](https://archiveofourown.org/works/5118143) by [Melime GreenLeaf (Melime)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Melime/pseuds/Melime%20GreenLeaf)



> A bit of a delayed present for Alfer, to celebrate her approval in her thesis defense. She asked for Leliana/f!Warden, an elf mage, comparing the freedom outside of the circle, with the prison in which she lived, and that being with Leliana made her feel again all the emotion of the first step outside of the cicle. The name was her idea too. I didn't follow the prompt 100%, but I think it's close enough.

Arien was young when she was taken to tower, younger than average, but not enough to be anything spectacular. Maybe this was why she heard most of the others talking about the families that left them behind, while she couldn’t even remember them. Sometimes she thought she did, she would dream of a woman without a face but with a faint smell of fresh bread, but she didn’t know if it was a memory or just her imagination.

Her most vivid memory from her life before was the day she was taken to the tower. It was a windy midsummer afternoon, and the air smelled like crushed grass. It made her want to run around the field with her arms spread open, something she had rare opportunities to do, living in the city. She couldn’t remember the templars that brought her there, or who first greeted her in tower, but she still remembered how stale the air felt when she first stepped in.

With time, she got used to it, but she never stopped wishing for a chance to truly breathe fresh air again. After the suicides, that the templars called attempted escapes, the windows were kept closed, and only the higher-ranking mages had permission to open them. She decided very early that she wouldn’t spend the rest of her life there, and her only chance of seeing the outside world again was to play by the rules and rise through the ranks, so she would be allowed to leave on assignments. It was a long shot, only the handful ever got the chance, but it was still better odds than jumping from a window.

Then she had to choose between loyalty and her dream, and she deposited her trust in the wrong person. For a moment, she feared she would stay trapped in that tower forever, and that thought was scarier than being murdered. She accepted to be a warden just for a chance to step outside again, without a second thought to the danger.

Her first step outside was better than any orgasm. Her legs were shaking, and she had to hold Duncan’s arm not to fall. She laughed hysterically, crying and shaking, and needed a minute to calm down. The air was fresher than she remembered, and the open space was almost too much. This was freedom, more than she ever hoped to get, and she would gladly pay whatever price to escape her prison.

Then she became a warden, and she understood that she was still a prisoner, except now her own body was her prison, and this time there would be no escaping. The foul scent of the darkspawn polluted the fresh air, and she wondered if that illusion of freedom was worth anything.

When she first met Leliana, she didn’t know what to think. Leliana was unlike any other chantry sister, and Arien found herself trusting her faster than she thought it was possible. Their first kiss was like that first breath of fresh air, except this time she didn’t even know what to expect. It was unlike any of her affairs in the circle, that always felt like nothing more than a way to pass time. She was grateful that she was able to contain her excitement until she was alone, as falling over Leliana would have been embarrassing. The next day, her smile lasted way past the first few times they were attacked.

Arien always hoped she would be free from the circle tower, but after learning the truth about the wardens, she gave up all hope of freedom. And yet, now, with Leliana sleeping next to her, she dared to hope again. Her body was a prison, and Leliana was the only person that made her feel truly free.


End file.
